China's chief justice pledges to fight terrorism

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BEIJING, March 10 -- China's chief justice Monday pledged to severely punish terrorists in cases like the Kunming railway station attack, in an outline for the courts' work in 2014.

Chinese courts will work to safeguard national security and social stability and help build up people's sense of security, said Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), when delivering a work report of the SPC at the second session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC).

Courts will severely punish offenders who harm national security, especially those who carry out terrorist attacks, pose serious threats to social security and damage military facilities, Zhou told nearly 3,000 national lawmakers, who will deliberate the report.

On the evening of March 1, a group of knife-wielding assailants indiscriminately attacked civilians at a railway station in Kunming, provincial capital of Yunnan, causing 29 deaths and injuring another 143.

Last year, Chinese courts convicted and punished 1.16 million criminals, according to Zhou.